Big Phil Scolari gets ready for biggest test

THINK of Brazil and you think of the beautiful game, of Pele and Jairzinho and Socrates and Ronaldo. The team in the famous yellow and blue strip play football to a samba rhythm and with a peerless artistry.

When Brazil turn up at Wembley to play England in a prestige friendly on Wednesday they will do so at their very lowest ebb.

They languish down at 18th place in the FIFA rankings. The world’s best football team has become meek and ordinary – down below Greece, Mexico, Ecuador and Switzerland.

At the end of last year, they had become officially the worst team in Brazilian football history – just 18 months before the World Cup to be staged across their own land, from Rio de Janeiro to Sao Paulo.

This was a proper sporting crisis, and the first decision was to bring in Phil Scolari as the new boss to try to repeat his success of winning the 2002 World Cup. Big Phil was appointed in a hurry back then, too, when Brazil were panicking because they were only No2 in the world.

For context, Brazil have been No1 for 12 years and seven months since the FIFA rankings started two decades ago, and almost never out of the top three.

Scolari may have been a failure in his few months at Chelsea but he is revered in Rio. He starts his revolution this week at Wembley, and the first names on his teamsheet are likely to be the crowd-pleasing choice of veteran superstar Ronaldinho (above) and then QPR goalkeeper Julio Cesar. Neither has played for Brazil since 2011, but needs must.

Ronaldinho, 33 next month and now back in his homeland at the Atletico Mineiro club, will feature alongside 20-year-old rising talent Neymar. “Few players in the world play the game better than these two,” says Scolari. “I just want them to play the football they are capable of.

“This year Neymar won’t just be in the world’s top 10 footballers, he will be in the top three like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. He’s come on in leaps and bounds, and he will keep on improving.”

Neymar has played at Wembley before – in the 2012 Olympic football final last summer, when Brazil lost to Mexico. He has often been linked with a transfer to Europe but for the moment remains at the Santos club, where Pele spent most of his career.

The young striker accepts that Brazil have been struggling but reckons the appointment of Scolari will change their fortunes.

“If you look at the rankings, you can see that Brazil aren’t at the top, but we are working hard on the team’s identity and becoming more of a unit,” says Neymar. “We’ve been through a lot and it needs time to forge that identity.

They languish down at 18th place in the FIFA rankings

“Scolari is a great coach and a great person, and I hope we can win games with him. The pressure is huge but it’s always there, no matter where we play. It will be even bigger at a home World Cup but it is good pressure. Brazilian players just have to accept it.”

What kind of Brazil team will show up at Wembley this week? Nobody can know for sure but it should be fascinating. Scolari will relish a return to London but this is the first experiment of many for him in rebuilding Brazil. The goal is World Cup glory in Rio and he says: “We have to win the trophy, there is no argument about that. The supporters are right to demand it and we’re ready for the challenge.”

Who does he see as the main rivals? “Spain come to mind for what they’ve achieved,” he says. “And Germany have done a good rebuilding job since 2003.

“Traditionally, and because of how they play, Italy are among the favourites, as are Argentina because of the quality of the players at their disposal.”